Former Harrods proprietor Mohamed Al Fayed dies aged 94
F
ormer Harrods proprietor Mohamed Al Fayed has died on the age of 94, his household have introduced.
In a press release launched by Fulham FC, his household mentioned: “Mrs Mohamed Al Fayed, her children and grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, their father and their grandfather, Mohamed, has passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday August 30, 2023.
“He enjoyed a long and fulfilled retirement surrounded by his loved ones. The family have asked for their privacy to be respected at this time.”
Sky News reported a funeral was held for Mr Al Fayed after Friday prayers at London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park.
In the years after the demise of his son Dodi Fayed, an Egyptian movie producer, alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a automotive crash in Paris in 1997, Mr Al Fayed repeatedly claimed they had been murdered in a plot by the British institution.
The billionaire’s relationship with the royal household was lately depicted in season 5 of The Crown, the place Mr Al Fayed, performed by Salim Daw, was seen attending to know Diana.
The 12 months of her demise, Mr Al Fayed had invited Diana and her sons Prince Harry and Prince William, to vacation with him on the Al Fayed yacht the place they had been adopted by the paparazzi.
The businessman was born in Alexandria in Egypt and got here to London within the Nineteen Sixties the place he set about constructing his empire.
Mr Al Fayed had taken management of Harrods in 1985 and he had additionally bought the Ritz lodge in Paris in 1979; and was recognized for being the proprietor of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.
In 2010, he determined to promote Harrods to Qatar’s royal household for a reported £1.5 billion and three years later he offered Fulham FC, to Shahid Khan, proprietor of American soccer crew Jacksonville Jaguars, who has now owned the membership for 10 years.
Mr Al Fayed had as soon as proven the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson round Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage in 1999 and in 2011 he put in a statue in honour of the singer outdoors Fulham’s floor, which was later taken down in 2013.
In the Nineties, Mr Al Fayed tried to change into a British citizen and failed in his makes an attempt.
He made his first utility for British citizenship in 1993 and in 1999, weeks after his brother Ali was granted British citizenship, he was declared unfit to carry a British passport by then-home secretary Jack Straw.
Mr Al Fayed appealed in opposition to the choice and Lords Justice Nourse, Kennedy and Rix dismissed Mr Al Fayed’s attraction that Mr Straw had been biased when he refused the citizenship utility.
He had beforehand been rejected in 1993 by former dwelling workplace minister Charles Wardle who joined the Harrods board of administrators in 2000, a transfer which got here as a shock to some.
The enterprise man additionally misplaced a High Court Battle in opposition to John Prescott permitting him to have the ability to land his helicopter on the roof of Harrods.
At the time, a spokesman for the Harrods proprietor mentioned that the choice was “backward-looking.”
Mr Al Fayed was one of the well-known enterprise tycoons on the planet and the Sunday Times Rich List from 2021 reported that Mohamed Al-Fayed and household had been price round £1.7 billion.